Policy implementation : budgeting and financial management practices of district health directorates in ghana

Abstract

This study is an effort to fill the gap in knowledge and methodological limitations of current research on budgeting and financial management practices at the local level of public administration. The focus of most research on budgeting and financial management practices within the government sector has been at the sectoral level. The general notion has been that contextual factors surrounding budgeting and financial management practices developed at the central level are cascade down to implementers for their necessary compiance to achieve the needed change. This has led to much focus on the central level. A multi-theoretical conceptual model is therefore, proposed to establish the sequential network of factors affecting implementation of sound budgeting and financial management practices at the local level. The main arguement is that contextual factors, the disposition of management teams, characteristics of district health directorates and strategic planning at the local level all influence budgeting and financial management practices. Hypotheses were developed to test the direct and indirect causal effects of the antecdents of implementing sound budgeting and financial management practices. The path analytic technique was employed to elaborate on the causal relationships of the factors affecting the implementation of sound budgeting and financial management practices. The analysis shows that BMC characteristics have a strong direct causal effect on the implementation of sound budgeting and financial management practices whereas strategic planning exerts a strong indirect effect. Therefore, the strengethning the implementation of sound budget and financial management practices should consider all of the variables studied with strategic planning as its foundation.